Over the last decade or so, the term “summer show” has meant two different things: reality shows like America’s Got Talent and Big Brother on network TV, and “serious” dramas like Breaking Bad and The Newsroom on cable. If there was scripted fare on the Big Four networks, it was either reruns or low-budget, Canadian-made shows like Rookie Blue.

This summer, though, the broadcast networks have decided to step up their summer game and give viewers some scripted options. The first big swing is being taken by CBS, a network not generally known for risk-taking, with Under The Dome. Based on a 2009 Stephen King novel, it’s the story of a small town that gets trapped when an invisible dome clamps down on it, and how small-town niceties break down when people think there’s no escape.

No one is going to confuse Under The Dome with Breaking Bad, however. As most reviewers have pointed out, there are some significant flaws in the first two episodes, like the Misery-lite story of creepy wimp Junior (Alexander Koch) holding his ex-girlfriend hostage in a bunker. And it seems that people are awfully calm about the fact that there’s a mysterious dome over their heads.

Despite its flaws, there’s a few reasons why Under The Dome is the perfect summer show:

1. It’s not really about the dome.At my site, Antenna Free TV, writer Aaron Broverman wrote about the premiere, “From the pilot’s very first allegorical scene, you get the sense that there was something rotten about this town and its inhabitants long before the dome came slamming down on top of them.” If the story were just about why the dome is there and what living under it means environmentally (i.e. “How do they get air?”), it would be more of a sci-fi show. Instead, the interesting part is seeing the “everyone knows everyone else” dynamics of Chester’s Mill break down before our eyes.

In the second episode, the town’s reverend, Lester Coggins (Ned Bellamy), accidentally burns down the house of the just-deceased sheriff (Jeff Fahey) while trying to conceal evidence, and a cop accidentally shoots his partner via a dome-related ricochet—both early indications that this little society will start to break down. The longer we go, the more we’re going to see people who still seem to be (oddly) calm and polite break down their defenses.

2. It’s “popcorn TV” in its finest form.What I mean by that is, you can sit there and munch on popcorn and not think about things too much. Yes, that sounds like a backhanded compliment, but it really isn’t; despite the presence of shows like Mad Men and Homeland where thinking, consideration, and concentration are required, there’s plenty need for shows like Under The Dome, which simply entertain. It’s especially something that’s needed in the summer, when you need to unwind from commuting and being at work during an annoyingly hot day.

3. Two words: Dean Norris.It’s interesting that viewers will be watching Norris’s Breaking Bad character Hank chasing after Bryan Cranston‘s Walter White in the final eight episodes of Breaking Bad at the same time as he’s playing slimy Chester’s Mill councilman “Big Jim” Rennie on Under The Dome. Fans of BB already knew that he infused the back-slapping, joke-telling Hank with an emotional depth that made you want to root hard for him. And he takes those same skills and turns them on their head when playing “Big Jim.”

We’ve already seen that Jim can turn on a dime from looking like he’s a heroic leader to threatening anyone who exposes the still-mysterious reasons why he was building a stockpile of propane inside Chester’s Mill. In last night’s episode, for instance, he came to the rescue to bulldoze the sheriff’s house before the fire spread, but what he was really doing was destroying whatever evidence about the propane stockpile was inside. “Big Jim” is shaping up to be a fine TV villain, and it’ll be interesting to see when and how he gets what’s coming to him.

Are you enjoying Under The Dome? If so, let me know why you enjoy it by commenting below.